The Problem with Smart Guys
by ShadowJackal35
Summary: -is that they know more than they should. Masamune is back from his study program in America and he's slyer than ever. Now 21-years old, he's really become a young man and is ready to become a part of the world. The only problem is that Rin isn't so sure she wants to be caught up quite yet. As the two struggle with their relationship, old characters have yet to reappear. -SEQUEL-
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Date Masamune was always in a hurry. Every day for over two years, at the same time after the same class, he would be the first out the door and could be seen sprinting across his college lawn like an Olympic runner out for gold. His friends often called him "The White Rabbit" (or just Bunny if they wanted to be cute) because of his habit to always glance at his watch and mutter impatiently, "I'm gonna be late, I'm gonna be late."

His guy friends always said that he was in a rush to watch porn without anyone knowing ("as if I need to," he would scoff), but his girl friends would always reprimand them and remind them the real reason.

It was to see a girl. But, not just _any _girl. _His _girl; the one in Japan.

Date Masamune had come to America on a study program to perfect his English so he could continue working for his master degree in business. Unfortunately, this tore him away from everything he cared about in Japan; including his guardian like retainers, Katakura Kojuro and Kojuro's fiancé, Mouri Suzume. More importantly, Masamune was separated from his childhood friend and high school sweetheart, Kazehaya Rin, (a.k.a by his friends Mrs. White Rabbit).

For once in a long time though, his class let out early and it was just as he was packing his bag to go out when he glanced at his clock. He had just returned from another class, but obviously not fast enough. _Shit_! He's late again.

He threw his bag to the side and jumped over his bed to his desk to turn on his laptop. "_**Come on**_, _**hurry up**_," he muttered in English. "She's probably asleep by now."

He logged in to the website he needed and was relieved to see a tiny icon glowing still, showing that the user was still online. He clicked on it and it automatically connected to him, as if it were waiting for this call.

A familiar black haired girl filled the screen. She seemed to be asleep. He didn't really want to wake her up; she seemed so peaceful but… He wanted to talk to her. He _needed _to. This was the only time he was able to talk, as "in person" as possible, and he couldn't waste it.

To wake her up, all he said was, "Rin."

Her head was lying on the desk as if she were sleeping but at the sound of his voice made it shoot up to look at him. She smiled and said sleepily, "Good evening, Masamune."

He laughed, relieved to see her. He corrected, "I think you mean, 'good afternoon'."

"Eh?" she asked, confused. Sleep still seemed to be clogging her system, so she must've forgotten where he was. Realizing her mistake though, she smiled in her usual "how-stupid-of-me" smile and said, "Oh, that's right. Good afternoon, then."

He laughed again. He recognized the background behind her to be the old antique shop she now took care of. It seemed as messy as ever, and just from the small screen he knew that it was as full of unimaginable things as ever.

The two had rarely been able to talk during the time Masamune had been in America. Having a completely filled college schedule and being on two different continents on opposite sides of the world kind of did that to the two.

Masamune could literally count the number of times he'd been able to talk to Rin via camera chat on one hand. They'd sent many letters and emails to each other, but rarely had they ever gotten a chance like this to talk face to face. And it still wasn't enough.

She asked, "How are you?"

He shrugged, appreciating the simple talk. "_**Fine**_, how are you?"

"Sleepy," she laughed. "It's four in the morning here."

Masamune jolted, "It's that late?" She nodded and stifled another yawn and he asked in concern, "Then why the hell are you still up? You should be sleeping. I wouldn't have bothered you if I had known-"

Rin shook her head stubbornly, "But I wanted to see you…"

Masamune smiled as he asked half fearful, half hopeful, "Do you wait this late for me every night?"

Rin shrugged indifferently, "More or less. This is the most convenient time for you so-"

He sighed sighed in exasperation, "_Rin_, don't do that. It's not good for you to stay up so late every night."

"It's not _every _night," Rin said defensively. She yawned again, "Just _most _nights. And it's not like I'll be doing it for the rest of my life; just until you come back."

Masamune rolled his single, blue-grey eye, "Well, in any case, you should go to bed now. You can barely keep your eyes open."

Rin pouted, "Can too. See?" She used her fingers to stretch her eyes as wide as possible to make her point.

Masamune laughed. "_**Sleep**_," he said gently. "We can talk again some other time."

She huffed as she stifled another yawn. "_Fine_." She asked suspiciously now though, "You aren't cutting class by any chance, are you? Now that I think about it, now is usually the time you're studying."

He laughed and said, "Don't worry so much."

"Don't be cutting class," she said sternly, concern overpowering her drowsiness. "You're a big boy now Masamune, you're too old to be doing that like you did in high school."

Masamune laughed as he asked rhetorically, "Does that mean _you're_ old enough now to actually have _**fun**_ with me like an adult, like you _didn't_ in high school?" Rin didn't answer. Instead, she pressed her lips together tightly; clearly not amused. She knew what he was talking about. Masamune grinned, "Anyways, go to sleep, you flake. I'll talk to you again soon."

"Promise?" she asked seriously.

He smiled and confirmed, "Promise."

Satisfied with his word, she huffed and said dejectedly, "Fine. But… One more thing?"

**_"_**_What?_**_"_ **Masamune asked with mock impatience. "Geez, you're like a child who's up past her bedtime."

Rin stuck her tongue out at him. Then, more seriously, she paused as she tried remembering the phrase she had learned recently. She said hesitantly, "_**I… Love you…"**_ He laughed and Rin jumped, afraid that she said it wrong. She asked timidly, "Did I get it right?"

Masamune stopped laughing and smiled at her almost perfect English. He nodded and said, "Yeah, you got it."

"Yay," Forgetting how exhausted she was, Rin cheered. "I'm so happy." Masamune smiled again. He wanted to touch her. Her cheek, her hair, her lips.

He reached out, forgetting that they were only video chatting and he was surprised when his fingertips hit the screen. Rin blinked in surprise and she smiled, automatically understanding his intentions. She wanted the same thing. She said gently, "Not long now, Masamune. Be patient."

He snorted and said sarcastically, "Because I'm _so _good at that."

"Mm," she waved sleepily, "Good night, you one-eyed pervert." Before she signed off, Masamune could see that she put her head back on the desk, as if she was just going to collapse right there at the desk she was talking from.

As a last comment he shouted, "And don't fall asleep at the desk!"

Too late, she'd already signed off, but Masamune knew she'd gotten the message, and he smiled to himself.

Not long now.

* * *

_Five months later_

At the airport, Masamune waited impatiently at his terminal in the airport.

It was a mistake of his to tell Rin to meet him at his terminal because now she was looking for him and who knew where she was now. The girl could get as easily lost in a public bathroom, who knew how she did in a gigantic airport like this.

She wasn't answering her cell phone, so he had no choice but to stick put until she found him. Otherwise she'd just get even _more _confused if she got there and he was gone. He sighed. Sometimes, he forgot how airy Rin could be when she wasn't being her tenacious self.

Suddenly though, he though he saw a flash of gold in the crowd of people. Was that…

"Masamune!" a voice called.

Midnight black hair and matching eyes; pale skin and a perpetually adorable confused expression. His spirits lifted, ah, yes, that was _her _alright. Even from here, he could see that she was wearing both ornaments he had given her back in their high school days. The first being a gold hairpin holding back her naturally straight, black bangs and the second was a small, silver pendant with the Date crest. He couldn't see the dragon at the very center of it, but the bright blue of its eye that flashed in the light was undeniable.

He shouted back, "Rin!" He left his on-board traveling case behind as he tried making his way to her.

He looked straight at the bobbing flash of gold and soon he saw her in full. Kazehaya Rin, the one and only. She hadn't seemed to change at all since their high school days.

She'd grown only slightly taller, but so had Masamune, so she was still just around Masamune's shoulders. Her black eyes still shone with the same innocent light as before and her bangs were still cut in the same traditional style across her forehead. Her hair was as long as ever; reaching to about mid back, and as fragile as she seemed, she still held herself with the same amount of dignity as before that told people that she wasn't as doll-like as she seemed.

With that same endearing look, she was looking around her like a lost puppy as she searched for Masamune. He yelled again, "Rin!" and waved a hand to get her attention.

As soon as she saw him, her face lit up. It was so bright, Masamune thought it would fill the airport. Rin rushed to him, stumbling here and there on her own feet. As soon as she made it she threw herself right at him. It was rare for her to ever initiate physical intimacies, even ones as innocent as a hug, so Masamune was grateful for it.

He held her tightly in his arms and she said excitedly, "Masamune! Welcome home~!"

She was almost like a child who had just seen Santa Clause for the first time ever. It had been over two years since they'd seen each other in person, and her eyes shone with delight. Nothing in the world would Masamune have given to lose that smile.

Instead of replying right away, he kissed her deeply, not caring who saw them. It was as if no time had passed between them at all now. That one single kiss seemed to wash away all those days when Masamune ached to hold Rin and touch her, and see her in person. It was as if he had never left her. When they broke away, Rin looked noticeably flustered but still exuberant about his return. He knew what she was expecting him to say.

He wanted to play a joke on her though, to make her even more flustered like he used to in high school by making the ever blatant sexual reference, but he thought against it. He knew it would only piss her off, and why ruin the moment?

Instead, he smiled and told her exactly what she expected to hear; "I'm home, Rin."

* * *

A/N: Aaaand here we are again, at the start of yet another series. Hello again, Jackal here.  
This is the "first chapter"/prologue to the sequel of _The Problem with Smart Girls. _My plans are a little foggy for this series at the moment, but I had to post this first chapter because I'd promised in the final one of the last series to get it up as soon as possible.  
Anyways, my goal is to make sure that this doesn't turn out as long as the last (I also wanted that in the last series, but that didn't really turn out very well) also for it it to become as popular and get as many watchers as before.  
Eh... Oh, I also hope to see old readers again as well as new, and I hope you all continue the love of reading this fanfic.  
Thank you all, よろしく,

- Jackal

(Uncreative title is uncreative).


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

To say that Rin was excited about Masamune's return would be an understatement. To say she was ecstatic wouldn't even come close to the truth.

Actually, she was something of the opposite of both.

Indeed, her heart raced with happiness at the thought of Masamune being in front of her at just a hair's length away, but something else raced alongside that unexplainable joy and that, was fear. Or, maybe not fear exactly, but nervousness. Rin was anxious.

It had been over two years since she'd seen Masamune in person last and she couldn't help but wonder, had anything changed? Masamune had often written to her about America and the people he'd met there, but rarely had he ever actually noted anything about himself.

Every time she'd seen him during video chat (all three meetings, count them), she'd been only half-awake; more listening to his ever familiar voice than actually seeing him.

She also wondered, had _she_ changed to _him? _In her eyes, she felt she looked the same as ever – plain, typical, Japanese her but maybe to him, she would look… Dare she think it; childish? Would he find her boring now?

When Rin got to the airport, she was immediately overwhelmed. She didn't do well with people; especially _crowds _of people. All the jostling and hurried apologies seemed to unsettle her and the thought of being pressed against a total stranger absolutely terrified her.

Why, she still probably couldn't even take _Masamune_, the one person who had been able to get close to her physically and emotionally,touching her unexpectedly, let alone anyone she didn't know.

Looking around herself, Rin almost felt she would be faint. _But_, she reminded herself and trying to steel her nerves, _I promised Masamune that I would be the first one to come and meet him as soon as he came off the plane._

They had made this promise during the last day of high school. That, and, (Rin's stomach always dropped at the remembrance of this one) she _also _promised that she would come live with him. As in, inside the same apartment. Together. Most likely sleeping in the same room. In the same bed. Rin thought her heart really would stop at that thought, but it wouldn't be because of joy.

The events that had led to this deal being made happened back in high school. Before the last several months of their senior year, one of their dearest and, undoubtedly the most mischievous of their friends disappeared. Mouri Kanon, the sole proprietor of the antique store across from Rin's old waitress job, had simply vanished without a trace and Rin, unable to let go of the fact that Kanon had gone, vowed to take care of the shop in Kanon's stead.

To do this though required innumerable hours of free time, as the store accepted odd jobs on the side and so to keep up with them, Rin decided that she would drop her own dream of going to college. In order to do _that _however, she needed some sort of pardon from a city official.

Kanon, having been the daughter of a city official and having been one herself, already had the choice of dropping but Rin, previously having been a transfer student from out in the country side, did not. Rin needed a city official's help. A city official like Date Masamune.

Unfortunately, Masamune was absolutely terrified of his mother and wouldn't write Rin the pass. Until she made a deal.

The deal had been that if Masamune was to write Rin an exempt note for college, _she _would have to be the first one to greet him as soon as he got off the plane from the States. That same deal also included that Rin must also come and live in an apartment with him near his college back in Japan. Rin didn't like the idea of living with Masamune, but she hated the idea of Kanon's shop, the thing Kanon had seemed to cherish most in her life, be completely empty and so, Rin had no choice but to accept.

She just prayed that Masamune had forgotten that tiny little detail by now. Knowing him though, he probably hadn't. It wasn't that she didn't _completely _not want to live with him, it was just that she was afraid… Masamune always just did as he pleased, even when he knew he was going against his boundaries, and with Rin, that wasn't always a good thing.

He, who could only express his feelings through touch with her, who was nervous about even shaking hands with a stranger? Yeah, not exactly the most logical of combinations.

Rin sighed; shaking her head once again to get rid of her nervousness. The bells attached on the white ribbons of her hair pin jingled. The pin was a gift from Masamune back during their first summer festival together, and she had made sure to put it on today, just for him.

She also wore the necklace he had given her. It was a small silver pendant of the Date crest with a small dragon in the center of it. He'd given it to her as an "engagement present" (also back in their high school days) and she'd never taken it off. It comforted her because it was like a good luck charm and it was practically a part of her now.

Rin looked around the area. If she had read the map correctly (which she semi-doubted she had), she should have been near where Masamune's terminal was. But then… Where was- Ah!

Rin's spirits soared as soon as she saw him. She recognized Masamune even from far away. Medium length brown hair and a black eye patch over his right eye; yeah, even with typical brown hair it was kind of hard to mistake a guy with those kinds of features.

He was leaning against one of the columns with his arms folded and looking as if he were trying to be indifferent, but she could tell he seemed worried. Even so, his standard confidence seemed to radiate off of him and she could sense it even from where she was.

She couldn't help it; his name had made it past her lips before she could contain it. "Masamune!" she shouted. She could barely hear her own voice over the crowd but she knew he had heard it.

He looked around for her and then he saw her. His face broke out into a grin and Rin's heart swooned. Ah, how she'd missed that grin. So full of life and self-assurance. It was that same smile that seemed to win her heart every time. Rin felt she'd be weak at the knees but she pressed on and he made his own way towards her.

Rin almost stumbled over her own feet trying to get him; mumbling quick, half-hearted apologies to the people around her here and there and finally, after what seemed like forever, she made it to her goal.

As soon as Masamune was in front of her, as if by instinct, she immediately flung her arms around him and held on tightly. She said excitedly, "Masamune! Welcome home~!" Rin was almost as surprised as he was with her hug, for she was really never one to be on the affectionate side physically speaking, and even she knew it.

His surprise left as soon as it had come though and he held her back just as tightly as Rin smiled behind his back. Yes, this was Masamune. By the way he held her tight enough that not even a crowbar could come between them, but gentle enough so as to not crush her, she knew.

As soon as she pulled back, she was going to ask him how his flight was when instead he went right in for the prize. He immediately kissed her and Rin smiled into it. She had expected this. Never being one to talk about things first, Masamune went straight for what he wanted, not even caring if they were in public or not. He was the same as ever.

As soon as they broke apart, Rin blushed furiously, though her smile never wavered. She was just too happy to see him again to reprimand him.

Finally he smiled back and said, "I'm home, Rin."

* * *

"No, no, no, no, _no_! _Absolutely _no!" Rin didn't even try disguising her horror as Masamune grinned. After the two had reunited, they worked on trying to escape the airport and they were just riding the public bus to Masamune's old home when he suddenly brought something up. The exact some thing that Rin had previously been hoping he'd forgotten about.

"Ah-ah ah," he smirked, "You made a promise. Now you have to keep it."

Rin kept shaking her head in denial and said, "No I don't! That's _your _life style, not mine!" What was meant to be a pleasant afternoon had somehow turned its head on Rin and suddenly became Hell. Rin had been wrong to believe that Masamune would forget about their deal two years previously. In fact, unbeknownst to her, he'd been thinking about it the whole time they were apart.

Masamune reasoned in his mixed English-Japanese talk, "Even so, I already did my part of the _**bargain**_; so it's only _**fair**_ to uphold yours."

"I already told you," Rin practically spat. "_No_. Besides, I already came to see you and that was the first part of our deal, so wasn't that enough?"

"Nope," he said immediately. "You've gotta complete the _entire _deal." Rin only pressed her lips tightly together and crossed her arms as if to say, 'Nope, nope, nope. Not gonna do it, and you can't make me' but Masamune only continued to smile; completely unfazed. He said in almost a sing-song tone, "Well, you know, if you aren't going to complete our _**deal**_, I could always make college mandatory for you again."

Rin's eyes widened as she unintentionally uncrossed her arms in her surprise and said, "What?! No way!"

He only smirked and said, "I have the power to make it exempt and I _also _have the power to make it mandatory. One little note from me and I'm sure you could find yourself sitting in the desk right next to mine. It'll be like high school all over again for us; wouldn't that be **_fun_**?" Rin paled and he grinned in triumph; already knowing that he'd won the argument, as per always.

"You wouldn't dare!" Rin said, sounding unsure even to herself as the fight already started draining out of her.

"_**Try me**_," he said; using the exact same words she had used on him back when she proposed the idea of her skipping college. She was silent and seeing that she needed another little kick he said again, "Our deal was that if I was to give you the choice to pass college, you would come live with me when I got back from my study program. If you don't, then you know you'll be indebt to me, _**right**_?"

Rin scowled, refusing to look at him now. She asked in one last attempt, "Do I _really _have to? Can't I do anything _else_?"

"Well," Masamune teased, "You could always have sex with me-" Rin whipped around to glare at him with full force and Masamune laughed, yet again unfazed by her, "But of course, I can see you're still against _that_ _**idea**_."

Rin turned her back on him as she sat despairingly in her seat; the air seemingly hot around her.

Masamune and Rin normally made a very agreeable couple. In the past of course, the two had fought like any healthy couple but they always got over it and each argument only seemed to bring the two closer in the end. There was, however, one _tiny _little detail on which they disagreed upon and may never ever see quite eye-to-eye on.

The only single, seemingly perpetual ongoing arguement between the two was about their physical relationship. If there was one word you should never say to Rin, it was the s-e-x word. That one litte, three lettered word could set her off for hours with a red face, sweaty palms, nervous twitches; the whole works.

Seeming to have, as Masamune teased her, "Perpetual Virgin Syndrome", Rin couldn't help but get embarrased by the topic. She just didn't have the experience like Masamune did with handling the oppisite sex. Before _he'd_ come along, she'd barely even held hands with a boy and probably the only male person she'd ever hugged outside her family was an old friend of her father's, "Uncle" Katashi, who was practically a second father to her.

All through high school, Rin had continually refused Masamune on the topic and the closest he'd ever gotten to her was sleeping in the same bed (or, more like the same room as most of the time she kicked him off the futon or stayed as far out of his reach as possible) and that had probably only been about three or four times. Five at most.

Sometimes Masamune wondered whether he would only be granted "looking" rights to Rin for the rest of their lives.

He watched as she sat silently staring out the window and he sat back in his seat, knowing that she'd come around eventually. He knew she hated the idea, no, he knew how she _despised _the idea of being rushed into new territory like this, but he also knew how much she hated the idea of being in debt even more, and being indebt to _him _was just the cherry on top.

He found _that_ out during their first year of high school, when Rin first found herself in his debt when she broke a vase at his house. That was probably the hardest year of her life (in her opinion). Oh yes, she'll come around, sooner if not later.

Speaking of which... Masamune glanced at his watch. _She'll probably give in in about three... two... one-_

"Fine. I'll live with you." Rin mumbled begrudgingly and Masamune grinned._ **Bingo**. _Seeing its evil reflection in the window Rin turned back on him and said almost wearily, "Two and a half years later and you're _still _going on about that sort of thing?"

He only grinned and said, "Well, I am a man, after all and we _are _adults now, so it's only natural." Rin rolled her eyes as she turned her back to him so she could sulk. Masamune sighed in mock woe and said, "Man, two and a half years definitely _was_ a long time to be apart. I'd forgotten how _**stubborn **_you are."

Rin glared at his reflection as she shot back, "And _I'd _forgotten how much of a pervert _you _are! Honestly, why isn't your title "_Dokuganhentai" _instead of "_Dokuganryu"_?"

He only laughed good naturedly and teased, "And what does that make you? The "Crimson Virgin"?" He referred back to the old title (which was actually "Crimson Shinigami") that Kanon had given Rin when she first became Kanon's apprentice. Rin stuck her tongue out at him in reply and he only stuck his tongue back as mockery.

When they seemed to be finished making faces at each other, Rin only turned her face away to hide the small smile that seemed to be forming. She had noticed how natural this all was to them. It really was as if nothing had changed between the two, other than their ages. She was relieved... Noticing her sudden change in attitude though, Masamune only laughed again and said, "In any case, I have the address to the apartment I got. It actually isn't that far from here and-"

Oops. That ruined the moment. Rin's jaw practically dropped as she exclaimed, "And exactly _how long _have you had this all planned out?!" He'd only been back in Japan for an hour and he had already picked out a place for them to stay while he continued his studies?

"Hmm…" Masamune pretended to think about it before grinning and saying in a teasing voice, "Since about before the time I made the deal with you."

"Argh!" Rin threw her arms up in exasperation and Masamune laughed.

Yup, Masamune was definitely back.


End file.
